


all in good taste

by jelliphone



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, F/M, Humanstuck, M/M, also i don't believe in capitalization, alternate title: karkat and the raging lesbians, but lots of background shipping, davekat is main focus, sue me, who has time to capitalize, yes another college au, young gays study the arts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 17:16:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6433231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jelliphone/pseuds/jelliphone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the rules were simple enough:</p><p> </p><p>1) don't look the model in the eye<br/>2) no photography</p><p> </p><p>however, karkat vantas always did have a problem with authority.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the sounds of tuesday morning

kissing the dew soaked ground, the sun slowly rose up to signal the dawning of yet another day. light streamed in through polished kitchen windows and the smell of biscuits baking wafted throughout the household. the day was off to a gorgeous start; karkat vantas was sick of it already.

being a college student was already hard enough, but throw in a summative project due the next day and it all goes to hell. karkat, for example, had spent his entire night working on a project and only ended up getting around 1-2 hours of total sleep. not to mention, having a brother who likes to get up at the ass-crack of dawn for a roommate wasn't exactly helpful.

"brother, it's time to get up. my biscuits are in the oven right now, but you're running late so i suppose i will just pop some bread in the toaster for you," kankri stated as he gently shook his brother awake. in reluctance, the younger sibling shoved his face further into his pillow and let out a loud groan.

upon entering college, karkat realized how incapable he was of financially supporting himself. he had a part time job at the local record store, but it wasn't nearly enough to cover housing and meals. therefore, his older brother, who had a  steady job, was kind enough to move in with him and help pay the bills. part of karkat was immensely grateful for the help, but another part of him wanted kankri to just bippity boppity back the fuck out of his life.

unlike karkat, kankri was an extremely levelheaded person who was almost too caring when it came to other people's emotions, and karkat despised it. every year of high school he would do stupid shit that got him in major trouble and every year the teachers would say the same thing, "oh, i can't _believe_ you're kankri vantas' brother! have you no respect? your brother would _never_ pull a stunt like that." everything in his entire school experience had always been "kankri this" and "kankri that".

it never seemed to occur to anyone that karkat was not- in fact -a perfect child like his brother.

"leave me be, jackass. i was working on a project all night; i've earned this sleep," the black hair boy grumbled in exasperation as he rolled over so that his back was now facing kankri. nothing in the world was going to pry him from his bed.

"nepeta texted me earlier and said that she would come and, 'skin your ass to make a new coat' if you were late again today."  
okay, nothing in the world except that.

immediately, karkat threw his blankets off and stumbled around in a hurry to get ready. call him ridiculous, but he knew that nepeta was scary as fuck when you push her limits.

\---

the art student gazed at his reflection briefly to make sure he was presentable before grabbing his canvas bag and walking into the kitchen. he ran a hand through his unkept ebony waves and then adjusted his tank top. of course, karkat's idea of "presentable" was a graphic tank top, sweatpants, and flip flops.

he had decided that he made better art when he was comfortable.

kankri smiled a calm smile in his brother's direction, "i'm sorry my biscuits aren't done yet, but i did make you some toast!" he raised the buttered toast to karkat's lips.

"oh hell no. i refuse to do it. i will not do the anime bread thing," he scoffed, narrowing his chocolate eyes at his older brother.

kankri made a quiet 'tsk' in response. "now, brother, you know you work better with food in your stomach and besides," he briefly glanced at the clock on the oven, "you have thirty minutes before class starts."

karkat did the anime bread thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! i just wanted to briefly talk about this story i'm starting. i've had the idea for this for a while now, but hadn't carried it out until now. 
> 
> yes, i'm aware that the first chapter is so short and for that i graciously apologize. see, i haven't written anything- let alone fanfiction -in quite some time. i suppose you can say that i am getting back into the swing of things. 
> 
> the next chapter will hopefully be not only longer, but also get us into the main plot line. this chapter was sort of an introduction, or a warm-up in my case haha. 
> 
> rating may change in the future
> 
> remember: quality > quantity


	2. of cats and men

"nepeta! kanaya!" 

walking through the door to his first class, karkat immediately spotted the two girls snickering amongst themselves. he scrambled to one of the seats right beside them and let out a long, weary sigh. hearing the familiar sound of self-loathing, nepeta turned in karkat's direction. 

"oh my god," she hissed to him, "you are _so_ lucky the professor is running late." the brunette casted a shifty glance at him before breaking. that was one of nepeta's fatal flaws, she had a hard time focusing on any one topic for very long.

"guess what!" despite being a question, her tone of voice lead karkat to believe that it was rhetorical. 

"your new fabric came in for your fursuit?"

"you know damn well i don't make fursuits."

"kanaya came up with a new cosplay idea?"

"of course she has, but that's not what i'm looking for."

devoid of all ability to think, karkat frowned and made a "guys, my brain is only half functioning" gesture. the girls weren't impressed by his guessing skills in the slightest. it was disappointing, really.

"you know that hot brazillian looking girl who hangs around the douchebag(™) all the time," karkat nodded his head in response. "i think i got myself a date with her!"

unable to hide his shock, karkat's jaw dropped. he wasn't that surprised that nepeta got a date, but was actually just amazed that she got her away from eridan long enough to ask her out. 

"seriously? eridan didn't flay you first? color me impressed!" 

nepeta flashed him her widest smile at the compliment as kanaya shook her head at the two of them. fixing her dark jade headscarf, the seamstress chuckled at her friends before sharing some news of her own.

     "well, rose and i are getting pretty serious. and she may or may not of asked me to move in with her yesterday."

     intrigued, karkat leaned forward and nepeta gasped in delight. "oh gosh," she crooned, "what did you say?"

     a warm pink blush spread across kanaya's cheeks as she fondly remembered the moment. "i said yes, of course!"

     a loud squeal erupted from nepeta, and she gave her best friend a hard congratulatory pat on the back, accidentally knocking the breath out of kanaya for a moment. karkat, as happy as he was for his friends, was internally scowling. okay, it was slowly becoming externally as well.

   "damn you lesbians," he only half joked," how is it that you guys are so lucky, but i still can't get- let alone keep- a boyfriend!" in an act of self pity, karkat laid his head upon his desk and let out a pitiful whine.

     before either of the girls could respond, the door opened and their professor jogged in, gasping for air. "i am ( _huff_ ) so sorry, ( _huff_ ) guys. the starbucks was packed this morning and it took forever ( _huff_ ) to get my coffee." she sloppily set down her bag and starbucks frappe on her desk in order to get the lesson started.

   their professor for this class was a short, plump lady who always dressed in pastels and always wore a pink bandanna around her beached white hair. coincidentally, her name was ms. paint and most students loved her because of her cheerful attitude towards everything. karkat was not most students. he didn't understand how anyone could be so peppy in the morning. even when everything goes wrong, ms. paint was always smiling and remaining optimistic. 

     while ms. paint began setting up the board for the day's lesson, karkat felt something poke his shoulder. he looked over to see kanaya waving her pencil in a beckoning manner, so he leaned in her direction to hear what she had to say.

     "you'll be interested to hear what rose told me yesterday at dinner." raising his eyebrows, karkat continued listening. "she said that her brother is a highschool dropout who is struggling for money. therefore, he tends to do lots of random, small jobs. and apparently he told her that he was being paid to do nude modeling for our class." she then proceeded to gesture to what ms. paint was still writing on the board. scrawled in white chalk was the words 'today's lesson: nude sketches'.

   "okay, so?"

     "he is gay."

   "..."

     "and cute."

     ms. paint's soft voice interrupted their conversation. "alright class! as you can see, today we will be working on nude sketches. i have hired someone to model for us today and i expect you all to be mature about this. your sketches will be collected at the end of class and i will grade them tonight. now, i need to lay down some ground rules."

"rule 1: please do not look the model in the eye. we do not want him to feel uncomfortable as it is already awkward enough being naked in a room full of college students." a few chuckles bounced around room and ms. paint herself giggled briefly at her joke before continuing, "rule 2: no photography. i mean this guys; our model's privacy is important and what happens in this classroom stays in this classroom."

as she finished speaking, a young man walked in wearing a pale red robe. he was tall and fair with bleach blonde hair and a mischievous grin. karkat's eyes locked onto the model like a lion ready to pounce. 

"of course, i could go on forever listing rules, but i feel like the rest are simply proper etiquette and you all should be able to trust your judgement," ms. paint smiled over at the blonde and gestured over to where he would be standing. while she positioned and posed him like an a wooden anatomy figurine, karkat struggled to catch the model's reddish brown gaze. 

   once ms. paint was satisfied, the blonde dropped his robe slowly and as he did so, he looked up for a moment. for a split second his eyes met with karkat's and the art student melted.

    gasping, karkat hurried to retrieve his pencil and begin his sketch. however, he was far too distracted by the smirk on the blonde's face to draw and he was struggling not to look any lower than his upper torso. 

    he needed some sort of proof for later that this guy existed so that he could show his other friends. ms. paint's rules suddenly feeling meaningless, karkat reached absentmindedly for his phone.

   the black haired student slowly raised the phone's camera over the edge of his desk and pressed the button to snap a quick picture. however, what he hadn't cared to notice was that his flash was on. all of the color slowly drained out of karkat's face as the bright light had everyone turning their attention to him.

_oh shit._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am also working on this story on my wattpad under the same name !
> 
> keep in mind, that my posting patterns are very irregular so bare with me here:)


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